The Singapore Taxi Driver Facebook page is an active community of Singaporean Taxi Drivers who hit the page to share tips on locations to get passengers, discuss uber/grab partnerships pros and cons, and share the occasional rant or interesting story.

One particular story shared by taxi driver Paul Chua recently went viral.

Check out the post below:

TLDR;

At around 4am in the morning, a taxi driver spotted a middle-aged lady at Geylang Rd beside Lor 18.

She appeared desperate for a cab, but was being rejected by many taxis that stopped but refused to pick her up.

He saw that the lady did not look drunk or too unkempt, and guessed that the lady had not enough money, but still offered to pick her up anyway.

During the ride, the lady divulged that she had no money at all, due to a police raid at her workplace that day, and that she only had $10 borrowed from a co-worker.

The driver felt sorry for her but asked her why she did not consider other jobs instead of sex-work.

The lady replied that she had kidney problems and was too weak to find a job, and that providing sexual services was her only means to make money.

Nonetheless, she was proud that she did not have to beg or steal for money.

Many sex workers in Geylang do their jobs as a last resort to make money. Source

When they reached their destination, the driver told her to keep the $10 to buy breakfast for herself. The lady teared up at this, and thanked him profusely,

He thought that she “was a warrior”, as she had to endure sex work in spite of her health conditions, and felt touched by her story as he had been in a situation where he had no money for a late-night taxi ride before as well.

Empathy in Singapore

While it may come across as a story that is barely newsworthy – it’s just a taxi driver giving a poor person a free ride, no big deal – it is still heartening to see such stories shared on social media.

As Singaporeans, we ought to follow his example and show more empathy toward one another.